Powell reaffirms hawkish stance, says more rate rises likely

Speaking at the European Central Bank conference in Portugal, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the central bank is likely to raise again.

Powell didn’t rule out a rate hike at the upcoming meeting at the end of July. The pause in June bought some time for the Fed to asset the monetary conditions before the July meeting.

“The only thing we decided was not to raise rates at the June meeting,” Powell said.

“I wouldn’t take, you know, moving at consecutive meetings off the table at all,” he added before also saying that “the committee clearly believes that there’s more work to do, that there are more rate hikes that are likely to be appropriate.”

Powell also said that going back to the Fed’s target of 2% will likely happen not before 2025.

The Federal Open Market Committee meeting is scheduled for July 25-26.

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